Chapter 184: Just As Expected
Afterward, Furina discussed the subsequent matters of exchange and cooperation in detail with Gu Yuena and Di Tian. The two sides went back and forth, hammering out every particular one by one. Once consensus was reached on all points, Furina bid farewell to Gu Yuena and departed with Neuvillette.
Watching the two disappear into the depths of the dense forest, Di Tian immediately set off and brought the Three-Eyed Golden Lion before Gu Yuena.
"Sovereign, I have brought the Three-Eyed Golden Lion," Di Tian said, bowing deferentially.
Gu Yuena nodded slightly. "Mm."
The moment the Three-Eyed Golden Lion saw Gu Yuena, her eyes instantly lit up, and she bounced over joyfully: "Big Sister Silver Dragon King!"
She curiously studied Gu Yuena's human form, her mouth chattering away nonstop: "Big Sister Silver Dragon King, did you need me for something? Did something big happen just now? I saw lots of soul beasts hiding—they seemed to be afraid of something. And Di Tian told me to hide obediently too, and not to come out."
She tilted her head, a hint of grievance and complaint in her voice: "I even felt a really powerful bloodline aura... come to think of it, Big Sister Silver Dragon King, why did you take on a human appearance?"
Gu Yuena smiled faintly and bent down, reaching out to gently stroke the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's fluffy head. The gesture was tender and natural, exactly like an older sister would soothe a spoiled younger sibling.
"No particular reason." Her voice was soft. "I just thought this appearance was rather nice as well. What do you think?"
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion was stroked into utter contentment, narrowing her eyes as her tail swayed gently. She had not the slightest aversion to Gu Yuena's intimate gesture; rather, she enjoyed it exceptionally.
"Mm!" She nodded emphatically, her tone resolute. "No matter what appearance Big Sister takes, it's always beautiful!"
She lifted her head, a light of yearning shimmering in her eyes: "Can I also take on human form? I've heard the human world is pretty fun, with lots of strange and curious things..."
"Taking human form is fine." Di Tian spoke up with a stern face, his tone exactly like that of an old father disciplining a child. "But going to the human world? No. That is simply reckless nonsense! Far too dangerous! What if something happened to you? In the human world, it would be hard for us to look after you properly."
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion pursed her lips and muttered: "Hmph! I was just saying..."
Di Tian shook his head helplessly and sighed.
The child has grown up and no longer listens. Ah!
Seeing him in this state, the corner of Gu Yuena's lips curved up slightly. She then said gently to the Three-Eyed Golden Lion: "Your Uncle Di Tian is right. The human world is truly very dangerous for soul beasts. You had best not go."
"Alright..." The Three-Eyed Golden Lion drooped her head, a touch of disappointment in her voice, but she still nodded obediently.
"Right." Gu Yuena shifted the topic, her expression growing more serious. "Let Big Sister take a look at you and examine your body."
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion immediately lifted her head and said casually, "Sure, of course! But there's nothing wrong with my body. After all, no one can hurt me!"
She said this with full confidence, and it wasn't boasting.
Under normal circumstances, the Crimson King, one of the Ten Great Savage Beasts, would always follow closely by her side. Besides, as the Auspicious Beast, with the Golden Dragon King's bloodline within her, ordinary soul beasts wouldn't dare act recklessly. If some truly blind fool came along, her own super-strong spiritual attribute, along with the power of two ultimate attributes—ultimate light and ultimate fire—were enough to protect herself.
The only problems were encounters with the Evil Eye Tyrant or a human Titled Douluo, especially when she was feeling playful. Because she would often sneak away on her own or make the Crimson King keep his distance. In such situations, even if the Crimson King wanted to protect her, he couldn't guarantee absolute safety.
Fortunately, the above scenarios rarely occurred. As the Auspicious Beast, she held the fortune of the Great Star Dou Forest and carried the blessing of destiny's power. With layers of protection and her own strength, it was indeed very difficult for her to encounter danger.
"Next, I will carefully examine your entire body, inside and out, including your spiritual sea." Gu Yuena admonished seriously. "Do not resist, understood?"
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion's spiritual power was not weak to begin with. Though it couldn't compare to Di Tian and the other Savage Beasts, it far surpassed that of an ordinary hundred-thousand-year soul beast. If what Furina said was true—that half of the divine consciousness of that Sea God Tang San's daughter had already fused with her soul—then her current spiritual power had likely grown several times stronger.
After all, no matter how one put it, it was still half of a god's divine consciousness.
Moreover, Furina had said there was more than one strand of divine consciousness. Her daughter's share had already fused with the Three-Eyed Golden Lion; as for the other strand... Gu Yuena already had a conjecture in her heart. It was likely a monitoring method left behind by the Sea God Tang San.
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion nodded obediently: "Okay. But why do you need to examine my spiritual sea too?"
"Because I'm worried that your spiritual sea might also have problems," Gu Yuena patiently explained. "A full examination will put my mind at ease. It's nothing serious, just don't resist."
"Alright!"
Gu Yuena closed her eyes and slowly extended her spiritual power into the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's spiritual sea.
With her First-Class Deity-level spiritual power, she very quickly discovered an anomaly—an extremely well-hidden strand of divine consciousness, silently lurking in the depths of the spiritual sea. That strand of divine consciousness was very powerful, carrying the aura of a God King level.
If she were at her full strength, she could naturally suppress it with ease. But now...
Gu Yuena sighed inwardly and did not disturb that strand of divine consciousness. She observed it carefully for a while and discovered that there were certain restrictions set around it. As long as she didn't actively trigger them, there would be no problem.
Without making any noticeable move, she laid down a layer of seals around that strand of divine consciousness. This way, she wouldn't alert the other party, and could also better protect the Three-Eyed Golden Lion in secret.
With the seals in place, she continued to probe deeper.
This time, her discovery was even more startling—the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's soul was indeed no longer the same as that of an ordinary soul beast. Her soul was intermixed with other components, hovering somewhere between human and soul beast. That divine aura had already fused into one with her soul.
Without such meticulous and detailed probing, it would be absolutely impossible to discover the clues. What was even more terrifying was that the fusion process had been completely silent and imperceptible—the individual herself was entirely unaware, and her personality showed no signs of change.
It could only be said that the Sea God Tang San had indeed done it thoroughly and covertly enough.
A chill surged through Gu Yuena's heart.
Separating that strand of divine consciousness now was already impossible—it had fused into one with the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's soul. Only if the Three-Eyed Golden Lion died and then merged with the owner of the other half of the divine consciousness would it separate.
But in that case, even if the Three-Eyed Golden Lion wanted to be resurrected, it would be difficult to accomplish even by becoming a god. Because that strand of divine consciousness had already devoured far too much of her soul's essence.
Gu Yuena withdrew her spiritual power and opened her eyes.
"Alright. It's done."
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion immediately leaned in and asked impatiently, "Ah? How is it? I'm perfectly fine, right?"
Gu Yuena didn't answer directly. Instead, she took out a bound booklet from within her robes—the cultivation technique Furina had given her before leaving, said to have been specially prepared for the Three-Eyed Golden Lion.
"Of course there are no problems." She handed the technique to the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. "Oh, right. I have something good here. You can try cultivating this technique. If you find it inconvenient in your soul beast state, you can also try changing into a human form to cultivate."
She paused, her tone growing a bit more serious: "But don't get any ideas about running straight out of the Great Star Dou Forest and heading to the human world. Do you remember that?"
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion took the technique and nodded repeatedly: "Alright, alright, got it! Thank you, Big Sister Silver Dragon King!"
She flipped through the booklet in her hands, her eyes sparkling brightly. Clearly, she was extremely fond of this gift.
Seeing her like this, Gu Yuena added: "If you truly want to go out and play, you must tell me first, or tell Di Tian. Our side has some more things we can give you—like tokens that can protect you, and herbs that can let you assume human form."
She calculated in her heart: the Golden Dragon Spear could be given to her for self-defense; the Shapeshifting Grass Furina had given would spare her the trouble of re-cultivating into human form. With Di Tian's scale for protection on top of that, even if she encountered a Titled Douluo, she would still have the strength to fight.
"Hooray! Thank you, Big Sister Silver Dragon King!" The Three-Eyed Golden Lion was so happy her tail was practically about to curl up to the sky. Hugging the technique, she bounced and skipped away into the distance.
Di Tian watched her receding figure. After a long silence, he couldn't help but speak: "Sovereign, is it truly alright?"
Gu Yuena stood with her hands clasped behind her back, her gaze distant. "The way she is now, sooner or later she would have run out on her own anyway. Better to let her go out and gain some experience with our blessing than to have her sneak away. It will also be good for her."
She paused, then continued: "Besides, haven't we already reached an agreement with that girl Furina? We can have her help arrange a place for the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. Her Water God Church doesn't sound bad either. Furthermore, there's a powerful Water Dragon King stationed there."
"Mm... I understand, Sovereign." Di Tian nodded thoughtfully.
He hesitated for a moment, then asked the question that concerned him most: "Then, regarding the condition of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion's spiritual sea and soul... was it truly as that girl said?"
Gu Yuena inclined her head slightly, a complex glint flashing through her violet eyes: "It is exactly the same."
She was silent for a moment, then spoke slowly: "Therefore, that Sea God Tang San... is also an enemy of our soul beasts."
Di Tian's heart clenched upon hearing this.
Gu Yuena sighed softly with emotion: "His scheming runs deeper than any God King's."
Di Tian clenched his fists, a trace of regret in his voice: "If I had known back then that we would breed such a formidable enemy, we should have launched a beast tide and wiped out the Spirit Hall of that time, along with him."
"Enough." Gu Yuena waved a hand dismissively, her expression returning to calm. "Let the past be the past. What is most important now is to grasp the present and make preparations."
She looked at Di Tian and instructed: "Go find some soul beasts and have them try cultivating those techniques. See what kind of results they yield."
Di Tian nodded solemnly: "Very well. I understand."
A gentle breeze swept across the Lake of Life, stirring layers of ripples upon its surface. Gu Yuena gazed in the direction Furina had departed, myriad thoughts swirling in her violet eyes.
This game of chess had only just begun.